It's the Ring of Fire, Not the End of Times

The common denominator between my Breitbart published story, “Earth Quake Storm Rattles California,” about the 100 quakes of up to 5.3 magnitude that rolled through Southern California on Saturday, the 8.1 magnitude monster that pummeled Chile Tuesday, and the 5.8 magnitude shaker that hit Panama today is that they are nature’s announcement that the volcanic Ring of Fire is moving into its most active cycle.

This latest active cycle began slowly in 2012 with a string of noteworthy volcanic eruptions and small earthquakes along the perimeter of the Pacific Ocean. It is not good news that the west coast has not experienced any devastating seismic events in decades, because that means the underground stress is building. Earthquake storms, like the recent one in L.A., demonstrate a big breadth of seismic activity and are almost always precursor to more meaningful quakes.

The Ring of Fire runs for 25,000 miles in a horseshoe shape along the Pacific west coast, across to the Polynesian Islands and up the east Coast of Asia. It is moving out of its approximately 65 year quiet period and into its 65 year active period. The Ring is associated with a nearly continuous series of oceanic trenches, volcanic arcs, and volcanic belts and plates that all can become active.

Approximately 90% of all earthquakes and 80% of all volcanic eruptions in the world occur along the Ring of Fire. The entire west coast of the United States sits along an intense area of the Ring of Fire that is impacted by a massive network of faults that run underneath California, Oregon, and Washington.

Because no earthquake or volcanic activity happened near a highly populated area over the last two years, the press was oblivious to this dangerous new threat from Mother Nature. That has not been the case for the insurance industry actuaries, which have a vested interest in the size and duration of volcanic cycles. With a third of the world’s population living along the Ring, quakes or even volcanic activity in L.A., Shanghai, or Tokyo could cost up to a trillion dollars in damages and lost commerce.

Here is a list of indicators from 2012 that announced the Ring of Fire had woken up:

1) Mount Lokon, located in Indonesia, erupted more than 800 times and in July volcanic ash spewed from it reached heights of up to 10,000 feet.

Although one recent survey found that a stunning 36% of all Americans believe that the increase in natural disasters we have seen in recent years is an indication we are in the Biblical end times, we have just begun another 65 years of learning about all the exciting natural wonders the Ring of Fire has raged on the earth for millenniums.